Our Disney Vacation Continued...

Hollywood Studios

On Wednesday, August 5, we woke up really early to head to Hollywood Studios for our 8:30 am reservation at Hollywood's Play 'n Dine Character Breakfast. We left really early because we didn't know how long it would take. Well, we were the ONLY ones on the bus ride over to Hollywood Studios! That was fun for Ethan & Evan! We also didn't realize that the entire park wasn't even open yet, but we got to go in because we made breakfast reservations!

The breakfast buffet was DELICIOUS! I think Ethan was pretty tired (we really ran him ragged all week) but he really enjoyed meeting the characters from Little Einsteins and from JoJo's Circus. Because it was so early and not crowded at all, the characters came around to our tables quite a bit. Every once in a while, they would stop and sing a song from their shows. Ethan didn't really want to dance with them...he just wanted to watch from a distance.

June & Ethan

Leo the Lion and Evan & Ethan

Leo & Ethan

JoJo & Ethan (Ethan LOVED meeting all of the characters--wherever we went. It was so cute to see him give them HUGE hugs and he was always so proud when they would sign his book!)

After breakfast, the crowds were already piling in the park! It was a hot, muggy, rainy day, but we had a blast anyway!

One of the first things we found was the American Idol Experience. They had 3 park visitors that tried out and 3 judges that had similar personalities to the real judges (Paula, Simon, & Randy) that critiqued them. Then, the audience got to vote on the best one. There were several tryouts throughout the day and each winner came back for the final tryout at night. The winner for the day won a pass to the real tryouts for American Idol. We thought it was really neat to see the tv simulation and be a part of the audience. It was really neat! Ethan even enjoyed getting to vote on the arm panels!

We discovered a meet 'n greet for the characters in an air-conditioned building! That was great and not really crowded! We had just seen the movie "Up," so it was fun to meet the characters!

Doug, Carl, & Russell were very friendly--Doug, the dog, was teasing Eric the whole time. Do you notice the space between Russell & us? I think he could smell Ethan! When it was our turn to meet them, Ethan kept backing up and saying he didn't want to. When I bent down to pick him up, I could tell why! He was not smelling to pretty! I noticed Russell talking to the photographer, and then he stood way far away from us...so what else could it have been? :) What we won't do for a picture! :)

One of our favorite places was the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground. Ethan really enjoyed playing there while Eric & Evan rode the Tower of Terror. When they got back to us, it started raining and we had to leave. They closed down the slides because of the rain and Ethan started throwing a fit!

Evan & Eric loved the Tower of Terror...someone even gave them some fast passes, so they got to ride it twice...right in a row!

We enjoyed the backlot tour and the "Lights, Motors, & Action" stunt show. It was neat to learn the tricks they do to make movie magic!

One of the rides that we all enjoyed was Toy Story Mania. Then, we waited in line to meet Buzz LightYear & Woody.

We planned to go to Downtown Disney for the evening but it ended up being a disappointment. We had reservations for Planet Hollywood and that was a mistake! It was LOUD! I would NOT recommend that to anyone! We didn't get to shop around because we got there so late (we got really confused about which bus to get on to get down there & that wasted about an hour!). But we did find the Lego store...a major highlight for Evan! We were there until it closed picking out just the right Lego pieces!

Look at all of these Legos!!!! Evan was in Lego Heaven! :)

Because we got home SO late that night (I think most nights that it was around midnight or later), we decided to let the boys sleep in and Eric would go to Epcot to enjoy a little time alone and we'd meet up with him at noon. When Evan got up, he couldn't wait to put his new Lego Miner kit together! It only took him a little over an hour!

Oh, one more highlight of the day...we went to see the Beauty & the Beast show around 2 pm and got to the huge pavilion just in time for the rain! It wasn't just a little rainstorm that afternoon--it was a lightning storm! We were thankful for the shelter! They even had to postpone the show for a little while.

OK, more to come soon...